On Edge
by Thing2BK
Summary: Both Germany and America share only one thing in common. They both have paranoid brothers that made them hide a big secret from the world. Genderbending One-shot. Contest prize


Prussia cackled as he walked down the hall towards the conference room in front of Germany, who was frantically trying to make her jacket seem flatter. "It feels too squishy bruder! I think they grew!"

"Oh come on Lou! You're even flatter than I am, you've got nothing to worry about."

"Shut up! And don't call me that, someone might hear you!"

"What's got you all panicky all of a sudden? You've been doing this since forever, and no one's even gotten a little suspicious. Not even Italy, and he practically molests you every chance he gets."

"Yes, but the random seating arrangement put me next to France today. What if he does something perverted and figures it out?"

"Don't worry! I'll beat the beard off of him before he can even try."

"That'll just make it even worse…"

"Yo! Germany! Other Germany!"

They both turned around, Prussia only doing to so glare at America, who was running up to them, waving hysterically. "What've I said about calling me that, dipshit?"

Said dipshit frowned at that. "What does it matter? You were East Germany for long enough."

"You were New England for long enough, I don't call you that."

America turned faintly pink, but chose to ignore the albino's point, and turned to Germany. "My boss wanted me to ask you about the last G8 meeting, seeing as I forg –got sick… right, he figures you'd have the best notes."

"Well, I do, but they're all in German. I'd have to translate them for you." She replied, slipping back into her lower voice with practiced ease. "How about I bring them to your hotel room at 7:30?"

"Cool! It's room 318. See ya then!"

As the American dashed off to find someone else to bother, Germany turned back to her brother. "Do you think he guessed?"

"Get a hold of yourself! He's as oblivious as ever. Now come on, don't you have a meeting to take over?"

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The meeting had run almost three hours over the expected time, much to everyone's displeasure. Though, it did make everyone that much more grateful to see their hotel rooms.

America got back to the hotel room she shared with Canada, and tore off her bomber jacket, reaching desperately up her t-shirt for the clips on her back. Almost immediately, the tape slid off in a mound at her feet. "I missed you girls!" She sighed in relief, flopping over onto the bed. "I've missed you too bed… Ludwig's coming in… what? Two hours? Okay. Nap time."

{}}{{}

She woke up an hour later to the heavy pounding on the door. It was probably Germany, coming over with the notes, like he'd said earlier. America opened one sky-coloured eye, and glanced at the clock. Yes, it was 7:30 on the dot. It had to be Germany. "'M comin'! Hold your horses!" She shouted, rolling off of the bed to the carpet, where she paused for a moment, before bouncing to her feet, and running for the door.

"Finally. I've been knocking for awhile now and…" The taller nation stopped, mouth hanging low in shock.

"What's wrong?"

The silence hung thick around them as Germany continued to stand, frozen in surprise, and America remained oblivious.

Finally, she tilted her head down, and realized how she was dressed. Or rather, how she wasn't. All she had on were the dress pants, and batman T-shirt she'd worn to the meeting. The tape still lay in a crumpled mess on the floor.

"Oh shit. L-listen. Don't tell anyone! Please?"

And before Ludwig could answer, she'd slammed the door shut, and pulled the chain. She waited until his heavy footsteps faded away, before undoing the chain again, and sliding to the floor with a shaky sigh.

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"Hey Al, sorry I'm late, the lines were pretty long and they took awhile to make your ungodly amount of… you okay?" Canada stopped in the doorway, holding two paper bags in each hand, each emblazed with golden arches, and looking at his sister with concern. "Em? What's wrong?" He only ever called her 'Em' or 'Emily' when he was really worried, out of his paranoia of accidentally calling her by that in public.

"I'm doomed Mattie."

"What? Why? If it's about the burgers, they haven't killed you yet, even though you've been scarfing them down for years-"

"'Cause that's something a guy would do and I gotta be a guy or they won't take me seriously, and they won't do that anymore anyway 'cause Ludwig's gonna tell everyone I'm a girl, and they'll all think I'm a weird cross-dresser, and Japan's gonna make me do freaky cosplay!" She whined, rolling around the bed several times as she started making unintelligible whimpering noises.

"Wait, back up. Germany found out?"

"Uh-huh…"

"How?"

"I fell asleep, and forgot I wasn't wearing my tape or jacket."

"Oh Em! You know better!"

"It's not my fault! It's uncomfortable! What if someone tried to push your dick back in with tape, you'd want it off too!"

"That's not the point. How could you forget something like that?"

"Don't yell at me! I'm gonna become a social outcast Mattie! And I'm the US of freakin' A! I _am _the social world!"

"Okay, let's calm down. You know Ludwig; he's not exactly a gossip. Now if Italy had been the one to find out, then we could panic. But for now, let's just have some supper and sleep on it, okay?"

America nodded, already digging into he first bag. Her eyes lit up when she unwrapped the first Big Mac, and took a bite. "So… if I _do_ get found out, do I have to start wearing dresses and stuff?"

"I don't think so. Everyone's used to America as you are now. A pig. If you go and completely change what they know about you, _then_ they'll start thinking you're weird. So, worst case scenario, just keep on being you. It'll work out."

"So I'll have to keep wearing boob tape?"

"Only if Germany doesn't tell."

The look on her face after that was somewhere between wanting to stay 'normal', and wanting to be free of the constricting tape.

{}}{{}

"Bruder!" Germany shouted, bursting into their hotel room, out of breath. Her carefully trimmed, and slicked back hair was falling out of place, with bits sticking up every odd way. "Bruder, I've found someone else like me!"

Gilbert turned off the TV, and looked up at his sister. "Really? Who?" He'd never really thought of another nation hiding their gender, though it did make sense. For the longest time, being a woman would get a nation absolutely nowhere with their leaders, especially when it mattered most. They got by for the most part, but prejudice still hung thick in the air during some meetings.

Germany opened her mouth to respond, but then remembered the look of terror on America's face. _'Don't tell anyone! Please?' _The blonde sighed heavily, and shook her head. "I can't tell you. It wouldn't be right."

Prussia rolled his eyes, and turned the TV back on. "So what're you gonna do?

"Huh?"

"What now? Whoever the other chick is, she's probably thinking that you'll tell everyone else. Is it someone I know?"

"Yes, but you know everyone. So what do you propose I do then?"

"Well, it's up to you. You _could_ tell her, or you could watch her expose herself, and keep your own secret completely hidden."

"You make it sound terrible."

"It _is _terrible."

"So you think I should tell her."

"And run the risk of her having a huge mouth? Hell no. By the way, it's not Feli, is it?"

"I'm not giving you any hints! This isn't a game bruder!"

But the more she thought about it, the more likely it seemed that America _would_ blab. The younger nation had always had this inability to shut up when it mattered, and had told the rest of the world several intimate secrets of all of her family. Sharing the secret might not be enough to keep her quiet.

"You're right. I'll just let this blow over."

"There's my Louie! And seriously? _No_ hints?"

"Don't call me Louie!"

"Oh, I'm deeply sorry my Lady Louisa."

Germany gave her brother a withering glare, and then turned to the bathroom. "I need a shower."

"Okay. I'm going out drinking with Toni and Francis, so I'll be late."

"Our plane leaves at eight. Make sure you're capable of getting up early. Like, four early."

"Aw hell! Why do you have to be such a woman sometimes? Wait, don't answer that." He stood up, and walked over to the door, where he pulled on shoes, and opened the door, just as the water started in the other room. America stood on the other side, fist poised to knock. "Hey."

"Um… hey. Is Ludwig here?"

"In the shower. Just come back in a few, he'll be awhile."

"Oh, okay." But rather than do that, she caught the door just as Prussia left, -she wasn't a very patient nation after all- and slipped into the room.

But regardless of where she was, that still left her waiting. So she ended up sitting on Prussia's bed, channel surfing, then getting bored and making shadow puppets on the ceiling with the bedside lamp. She'd almost made the most perfect moose, ever, when the water stopped running.

She was hit with one of those 'too late to actually do anything about it' realizations about the fact that Ludwig thought he was alone in the hotel room, and may very well walk out of that room completely naked, or in some other weird post-shower garb that guys would wear, or not wear.

So it was America's turn to look on in complete shock as Germany emerged in a black tank top, and sweatpants, staring in disbelief at the other nation. "How did you get in here?"

"Your brother left. I caught the door…" she answered weakly, letting her eyes dart anywhere around the room but at Germany. "Just wanted to apologize for slamming the door on you and… stuff."

"I guess this is the part where I ask you not to tell anyone?"

"Oh trust me, your secret's safe…"

"_Danke_."

America stared at her blankly for a moment. "I have no clue what you just said."

Blue eyes found the ceiling, and she sighed in exasperation, the words _why me_ running through her head. "It means thank you."

"Oh… You're welcome! But… you think I can ask what landed you pretending to be the manliest nation ever when you are clearly not very manly at all?"

"Bruder got respect from his soldiers. And that respect got him power. He wanted me to be the same. But then, there was no way for a woman to lead an army. So I was raised as a boy from day one. I've never known any differently. As for my voice, I always tried talking like the soldiers, even as a child. It sort of became natural to be capable of talking like a man." She could still see so many laughing faces as she'd talked with the soldiers, imitating their low tones. They thought it was a young boy wanting to be a man, not a girl desperately hoping she could pass for one. "What about you?"

"Well, when all you Europeans started landing, they were kind of assholes to our people. Me and Mattie had seen our fair share of horrible things being done, especially to the women, and he was scared that that'd happen to me. So he burned off most of my hair in my sleep, and started calling me Alfred. He picked up the name from some of the fur traders, I think. He called it a game, and once I was old enough to realize that it wasn't, I could see for myself that being a guy has a lot of advantages. And, I dunno, the whole, keeping this whole thing a secret, is kind of fun. It's like an adventure!"

"An adventure."

"Yeah! Like, you never know what's coming next, and that's the thrill of it. It's like being a master of disguise, like in the movies. Speaking of movies, there was this really cool Bond movie, I bet you saw it, but this one time…"

"Does England know? He did bathe you, after all?" Germany interrupted, changing the subject before the other started on a rant about spy movies.

At that, America let out one sharp bark of laughter. "Artie? Are you nuts? There's nothing motherly about him, and even if there were, he wasn't around very often. I took care of my own baths."

Somehow, Germany mentally translated that to, she didn't bathe that often as a child. "So why didn't you tell everyone the truth once women started to get more respect?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

"I live next to France."

"Right. Stupid question. Well, I didn't want anyone to think I was some freaky cross dresser or something. Plus, you see the witch trials, you get a little paranoid, y'know?"

She nodded slowly, and a silence fell for a moment, broken again by America, who couldn't stand not talking. "D'you have another name?" She blurted out. "Mine's Emily. I was gonna go with Amelia, but I couldn't think of any cool nicknames to go with it!"

"Louisa. But I didn't get to pick it."

"Cool! Can I call you-"

"No." America really did run on the same brain as Prussia sometimes. It was pretty disturbing.

"You're no fun. But we should still hang out some time! Like at the next G8 conference or something! I never really get the chance to hang out with other girls without it looking weird. Oh please say you'll think about it, we'll have fun!"

It didn't take much thought to answer. "If there's time, that would be fun."

America squealed happily, which was a bizarre image, given that she still looked very masculine. We should go play laser tag next time it's at my place! That game is the shit, and I know a great place too! And then we could…" She broke off with a wide yawn, and smacked her lips loudly after. "I should go. Don't want to pass out here, right? In case someone else drops in."

"Right. I have to get up early anyway."

"Sure. Goodnight. And, thanks for… I dunno, being a girl?"

"Anytime?"

America grinned, and reached for the door handle, only for it to be flung open, and Prussia to stumble into the room, and immediately hug the blonde. "Louie! I am in serious need of some… hey I think you're right! They _did_ grow. Shit, where've you been hiding these knockers, you're almost as bad as Ukraine!" He sniffled loudly at the thought. "My little Louie is growing up!"

"Weren't you supposed to be out at the bar with the others?" Germany asked, standing close behind America in the hopes that her brother wouldn't notice the difference in person while he was wailing.

"Aw shit, we didn't even make it out the door! Toni brought his own stuff, and this shit had us plastered in like… that! We've been in the lobby, but then this mean stupid person came up and said we were bugging everyone. So I came up here an' here I am!"

As he talked, America pried herself from his grip, and slipped over to the door, mouthing a silent 'thanks' to the other blonde as she did so, before disappearing.

Germany hauled her brother over to his bed, before turning in herself, and as the room went dark, she started thinking about everything from before now. To spend one's life constantly on edge, tiptoeing along a very thin line, was a stressful life.

But she wouldn't have it any other way. It really _was _like an adventure, in its own right.

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Thanks for reading~!

This really nifty idea of a one-shot was brought to you by Liberty Girl in the Sky, who won the 100th review thing from my story, _If we Shadows Have Offended_. I hope you like how it turned out, as much sanity was lost in the process of creating this. Sorry it was later than expected.

Love it? Hate it? Have another one-shot that I should write which won't get written for a while? Drop me a review and let me know, because I'm sort of panicky that it didn't turn out right.


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